not a land of smiles

Under this title, Franz Lehár was accused of having done nothing for his librettist, Fritz Löhner-Beda. Because of his publicly good relationship with Hitler, he should have done so. No, he should have!

Land of Smiles.

This is an operetta that premiered in Berlin in 1929. There was practically no money left in Vienna. Even less in Budapest. But there were other reasons for moving the operetta to Berlin. Political reasons. Because the anti-fascist "Black Reichswehr" supported the Chinese against the Japanese. In 1929, the original fascist alliance in China (Japan, Great Britain, France, and the USA) was already showing serious cracks. But it hadn't broken.

Cliffhanger continues